'70s TV Flops That Are Actually Worth Watching

Which of these shows do you think deserves a second look?

Battlestar Galactica wasn't a flop. It was too expensive per episode. It was very loved in the 70s

Space 1999 and the original BSG were no flops, atleast not here in the UK.

Both U.F.O. and Space 1999 were not flops. Patchy success in the States and massive success in other countries. The shows were accompanied by a massive merchandise campaign and continue to be shown all over the world still making money for their owners I.T.V. Global.

Battlestar Galactica did fantastic in the ratings, it was canceled due to budget.

Space: 1999 is one of the series I grew up on. One thing a lot of people don’t realize is it’s closer to scifi-horror than plain scifi. Also I lost a toy Eagle transporter as a kid (metal made by Dinky toys) and it took me years to justify buying a new one as an adult. It sits proudly in my workspace at home. :-)

Galactica, UFO and Space 1999 were most definitely NOT flops. The series are still shown today and the merchandise still shifts very healthy units.

Galactic, UFO and Space 1999 were staples of my childhood. Not sure what criteria you use to determine 'flop'

Kolchak - “While the initial two stories might’ve done well as primetime movies of the week…” is a funny way of saying the first one was the highest-rated original television film on US television.

Kolchek and Space 1999 were awesome.

I'm so glad you included Ghost Story/Circle of Fear! They did some great episodes. The one with 11-year-old Jodie Foster is brilliant. And an episode with Patricia Neal as a woman whose husband vanishes in a mysterious casino. Great stuff.

I LOVED the Night Stalker. My sister has the series on DVD, and we watched it recently. Darrin McGavin was brilliant as the bumbling reporter who always got on the nerves of the police who were investigating the crimes.

I remember Space 1999. I did a review which I titled Space 1899. The premise was ridiculous on basic science. The idea was the moon was blown out of orbit. It then went to other solar systems where it miraculously slowed down from light speed to spending days within the solar system. I liked Kolchak but it's problem was that as per normal at that time each show was a standalone entity and there just weren't enough monsters they could do.

When I was kid in the 1970s everyone I knew loved The Night Stalker. Hard to believe it was short lived.

So many of these shows were excellent, and not flops. Among the excellent are UFO, Space 1999, Battlestart Galactica, and Kolchak. BS was a hit, but the studio ran rampage all over it, and crapped the bed.

The Night Stalker was AWESOME. Classic stuff. And Fish was funny....great decade.❤

UFO was popular in the U.K. It should be re-booted, but only once, and if, the entertainment industry ever regains its sanity.
The first season of Space:1999 had some very good episodes (The episode “Dragons Domain” is still disturbing) but when the destroyer of franchises Fred Freiberger took over the second season, (he had already destroyed Star Trek and The six million dollar man,) he promptly wrecked Space:1999 too.

UFO wasn't a flop. It was popular, but not popular enough in the States, so Gerry Anderson reframed it as Space 1999.
Gerry Anderson also produced The Secret Service, which was another of his puppet shows but used double-talk specialist Stanley Unwin as a priest who serves as a secret agent along with a partner who can shrink thanks to a device owned by the priest. ITC's Lord Lew Grade looked at it and said "Cancel it! They won't understand Unwin in America." Anderson tried to convince Grade that no one was SUPPOSED to understand Unwin - that was the point - but Grade wouldn't listen. So, it was only a flop in the sense that no one had any faith in the show and refused to let it find its audience. It is really worth watching, however.

I've seen the 70's Battlestar Galactica and it sure is a fun watch. Glad I bought the DVD when I did.

Space 1999 was not a flop. The US execs made Anderson change almost everything and cut the budget.

I love night stalker!

Space 1999, Battlestar Galactica (and Buck Rogers for that matter) all had great starts but then the studios decided on a new direction, didn't gain any fans and lost the old ones, usually dumbing down the stories and characters into simple action pieces with no depth

Just a heads up the keyart you using for this video is actually Vincent Ventresca in the invisible Man series that was on Syfy channel in the year 2000. Just thought you'd want to know. EDIT: The key art was updated 3/28/24

Battlestar Galactica was pretty dope in it's first run....it also gave me something to watch after I was blown away by Star Wars. It really helped my seven year old brain get hooked on sci-fi, I guess🙂.

As I recall, The original Battlestar Gallactica was a hit, but it was expensive, so it was retooled into the less expensive Gallactica 1980 , which had good ideas, but lacked the budget to carry them. I was an avid watcher of UFO, Space 1999 and The Invisible Man

The thumbnail is from The Invisible Man (2000-2002) with Vincent Ventresca, great show and one of my favorite, but not from the 70's. Other than that, great video.

Kolchac TNS was fantastic. As a kid it captivated my attention and jolted my heart quite often. McGaven did a great job imo.

I LOVED Night Stalker!

I've watched a lot of television in my 56 years and
Kolchak The Night Stalker has to be one of my all-time favorites. There's an early "Mafia" involved episode written by David Chase. I won't spoil it for anyone. I hope everyone will watch and enjoy the entire series.
The reboot terribly miscast key roles and took itself waaay too seriously.

I highly enjoyed Space:1999. The first season was more intellectual, inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey, whereas the second season tried to capitalize on the success of the brand new Star Wars franchise and added some new cast members and a lot more action. The two seasons seem like completely different shows, but I enjoyed all of it.

The Night Stalker is still one my all time favorite TV shows

The Night Stalker was a great series.

After “The Invisible Man” was cancelled, NBC tried another invisible man series for the next season: “Gemini Man”. It also flopped.

Absolutely "Night Stalker". I was super pissed off when it got axed.

I grew up in 70's and pretty much saw all of these except "Bridgett Loves Bernie" and "Hawkins." (Spent way too much time in front of a TV as a kid!)

Space 1999 was a great show it did not use the what's the monster this week formula instead it had the characters use there brains to get out of the bad situation, for the first season season two tried the monster formula you see what happen. Sad because it was a great show

Was the narrator even born in the 70s to comment on these shows. 😮😅

Fish wasn't a flop

UFO AND Space 1999 were great shows and lucky enough I got both on dvd a couple of years ago. Been enjoying watching through them from then.

I remember and enjoyed most of these. My particular favorites are "Fish", "Space: 1999", "Battlestar Galactica", and "Kolchak". My husband has "Space: 1999" on DVD.

Every ten years or so there's a show dealing with the paranormal stuff and Kolchak was my favorite in the early 70's!

I loved both UFO and Space: 1999. Unfortunately, I wasn't always able to watch them, as they were syndicated, and in this area, they were always scheduled after weekend ball games. Every week in the TV Guide, I'd look up these shows and see the four words I dreaded most: Time approximated after xxxxball.Since no football in the entire history of the sport has ever finished in the allotted three-hour time slot, I would often miss 15-20 minutes of the show. And that's if they aired it at all. Sometimes, the game would run overtime by so much that they wouldn't even consider it worth putting on an hour-long show and would just play 15-20 of Gilligan's Island or some other sitcom. I didn't get to see the episode that introduced the character of Maya until many years after the show ended.
Kolchak: The Night Stalker - I loved this show too, even though it often scared the crap out of me.
Ghost Story - Another favorite of mine, when I could find it. It often seemed to air late at night for some reason.
Delta House - I only remember one episode of this, the one where there was a beauty pageant, and they rigged it by getting a bunch of old people to be judges and then dressing their girl in a swimsuit that didn't show anything.
Battlestar Galactica - Of course I loved this show as well, and never missed an episode. I even watched the bottom of the barrel Galactica 1980.
The Invisible Man - I only ever saw this when the SciFi Channel aired it many years later.

Fish, one episode was about a girl having appendicitis. A few weeks later I got sick, BAD SICK! I told the emergency room doctor it was my appendix and of course he laughed. When he came back in the room he wanted to know how I knew?
I told him Fish.
✌️🤠

Mrs Columbo was a fun series, and Kate Mulgrew made it worth watching!
The original Battlestar Gaactica was such a great and fun show! Galactica 1980 had ONE good episode, the rest were just ok!
Delta House was fun!
UFO was such a great and fun show with such a fun cast! Space 1999 was a good series!
The Invisible man was a fun series!
Kolchak was such a great and fun series with a great cast!
I recommend all are watched, but with Galactica 1980, you should watch the episode Whatever happened to Starbuck!

Awesome video! Really interesting shows!

Fish and Kolchak were really good shows.

I got the Space 1999 ship for Christmas back in 1978.

I had a Space 1999 lunch box in elementary school. Wish I still had it now

it wasn't Martin Landau's Space 1999, it was Gerry Andersons. Martin Landau is just an actor.

UFO did not flop. Every boy in school watched it.

Nightstalker andUFO are still 2 of my favorites.

If you get "U.F.O." the complete series, don't try to marathon watch it. Remember it was once a week, try to take a few days between episodes.

I watched, and loved, every minute of "Fish" and "Kolchak."

I remember all these shows !! Fantastic video … You Left out SHAFT that ran side by side With Hawkins it only lasted seven episodes and they really Watered down John Shaft I guess that’s why it didn’t work. Can’t wait for the next video..

Loved Kolchak. Fan of Space 1999 and UFO.

I remember Mad Magazine's spoof of Battle Star Galactica. They called it Cattle Car Galaxica.😄

2 of favorites that got axed, were A Man Called Sloane and Quark.. as a little kid it had everything I needed.

What about the Magician with Bill Bixby and Ellery Queen Mysteries? Love those shows.

Anybody remember the series Cliffhangers? It was an hour long show that featured 3 different stories in a serialized format. One of the stories was set in the Old West, where a cowboy finds a hatch in the desert that leads to a subterranean, futuristic alien base. Another featured a news reporter, played by Susan Anton, on the trail of Count Dracula. I don't recall the 3rd story, but each week, the story would end in, you guessed it, a cliffhanger!

UFO and SPACE:1999 were cool

I watched Hawkins, Mrs,Columbo and Ghost Story/Circle of Fear. Really good T.V. Henry Fonda had a short run show as a police detective and his family, James Stewarts Hawkins reminded me of that.

70s tv flops thumbnail show from the 2000s ?

Battlestar Galactica was a huge hit in the 70s, otherwise Universal Studios would not have made it a popular part of the tour.

UFO and Space 1999 were not flops. UFO has a very large following. Space 1999 series one was transcendent. Many people criticise it for its wobbly science with the moon ignoring the laws of physics as it flies through interstellar space behaving like a starship but if we put that to one side the series explored some big metaphysical concepts essentially reminding us that science holds few answers for our spritual questions. Series 2 , to be fair, went down the plug hole thanks, in part, to the employment of Fred Freiberger as producer.

AS A KID-SPACE 1999,U.F.O.,KOLCHAK THE NIGHT STALKER AND BATTLESTAR GALACTICA WERE FAVORITES AMONG ME AND MANY OTHERS.HECK WHEN A TV SERIES CAN PRODUCE MERCHNADISING THAT KIDS BROUGHT ,THEN I WOULD NOT CONSIDER THAT MUCH OF A FLOP DESPITE THE RATINGS.

Hyper fighting is my favorite SF also. No supers, just manual combos. Nicely balanced. Perfect speed.

People love David McCallum and not only did he do THE INVISIBLE MAN (which needs new 4K scans and full, total restoration) but later int he decade, he did the insanely underrated sci-fi series SAPPHIRE & STEEL with ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS and NEW AVENGERS (a show like RETURN OF THE SAINT, also from the 1970s, that should have been in this video) legend Joanna Lumley and got limited U.S. syndication. SPACE: 1999 was actually a big hit, turned down by all three U.S., networks, it went into syndication and got big ratings so that would disqualify it from this list. Changing the format to appeal to younger viewers and STAR WARS fans (like the animated 1979 FLASH GORDON), cast and sets in its second season killed it. It was preceded by U.F.O. which never changed its format, was more successful overseas and was only cancelled so the makers could fund SPACE: 1999. GHOST STORY also had its format and even title and theme song changed, but mid-season, yet its a great and insanely underrated horror anthology series, but that change killed it. And then there's KOLCHAK, a series that should have been a huge hit and a second season already had some screenplays penned for it. In the late 1970s, it was rebroadcast on THE CBS LATE MOVIE on Fridays and rating went though the roof. That kept happening every few years on CBS until it hit cable, where you can still see it and it has been offered in every home video format, including the new Blu-ray set that looks incredible! Thanks for the great video!

RIP David McCallum...Good video but "Duckie" from NCIS deserved a shout out being that he just passed a few months ago.

The thumbnail image you are using is wrong. It IS from the TV show The Invisible Man or iMan as it was later called, but it is not from the 70's. It is from 2000 to 2002. Starring Vincent Ventresca, this was one of my favorite shows. You should do a video on this show.

Correction: The main and likely only reason BRIDGET LOVES BERNIE had high ratings is because it was on at 8:30 PM following ALL iIN THE FAMILY. So since the other two networks were airing hour long shows between 8 and 9 PM all those who faithfully watched the wildly popular ALL IN THE FAMILY every week were stuck with either shutting off the TV at 8:30 or watching the extremely insipid, by comparison, BRIDGET LOVES BERNIE until 9 PM when they had their next window of opportunity to switch channels. People being lazy and addicted to TV back then, they just suffered through it.
But unless you were alive back then you would not know this and that is why people who weren't alive in the '70s shouldn't be making documentaries about the '70s.
As to this list, the only two that really were worth watching were KOLCHAK and MANHUNTER with an honorable mention going out to FISH and a few others you failed to mention. But low ratings in all cases are often more the result of the time slot they were put in and the competition they faced from the other networks. KOLCHAK, for instance, which aired at 10 PM on Fridays was in the worst time slot imaginable for the demographic (young adult) audience it was targetting.

I loved watching Space:1999, Battlestar Galactica, and UFO on channel 13 by the BBC back then.

Loved both UFO and Kolchak: The Nightstalker.

UFO Aired late on Sunday night locally which led to me doing a lot of yawning the next day at school. I also watched the Manhunter, Battlestar Galactica, Fish, Delta House and Space 1999. Delta House was also up against 2 other college comedies on the other networks. One only lasted one episode. (Can't remember the name.)

I'd like to add another show to this list. You can watch it right here on KRplus. It's called Tucker's Witch, and stars Catherine Hicks, Tim Matheson, Barbara Barrie, and Alfre Woodard. With a cast like that, you'd think it would've been a hit. Unfortunately it turned out to be pretty cheesy.

Good clip and subject. Ref 'U.F.O.' and 'Space 1999' I believe it was only in the U.S. that they struggled being UK imports and sometimes the Neo Noir (German Expressionist and Film Noir) plots, style, and storylines may not be understood if the mainstream audience is expecting something more straightforward; like the film 'Doppelgänger' (1969) from which 'UFO' came from which was misunderstood in the U.S. and renamed, etc. In the UK and other established UK TV markets like Australia the shows did really well, just like as you explained it with 'Dr Who'. But all the shows were great and it's strange how some shows even good ones aren't popular at the time due to the era and the public, but later as time goes on attain more popularity. No doubt this is a challenge faced by TV shows and films which may relate to whether a TV show or film is considered commercial or non-commercial.

Loved Battlestar Gallactica and Kolchak.

Poor research again...UFO...Space 1999...and Kolchak ..were all big hits in the UK..

Loved UFO and Kolchak. They weren’t flops.

Bearcats (1971) starring Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole who rode around the US, in a fancy Stutz Bearcat Sports car, doing bounty hunting, crime fighting and mercenary work in and around 1915. It lasted 13 episodes.

I loved Fish! I watched every episode. I didn’t even know it was a flop.

“UFO” was definitely NOT a flop; it was absolutely brilliant 🤔🙂👍 Those that know…….know

I watched nearly all these shows.they were good.kolchak scared the daylights out of me,but I still watched.people were not able to appreciate them.their loss

I loved Space 1999, Kolchak and Fish growing up in the '70s. It's funny when I watch them now I realize I definitely had different tastes back then. Although I do still like Kolchak

I loved Night Stalker.

Didn’t Mrs. Colombo run at least three seasons and possibly four? They’re on KRplus I know and I love that actress from her early days on Ryan’s Hope.

I cannot imagine Captain Janeway married to Columbo.

One series not mentioned was called "The Bearcatters". It was a period piece about a couple private investiators that traveled in a Stutz Bearcat.

From what I've heard , after it went into syndication and aired late night on CBS , there was talk about reviving Kolchak but, Darren McGavin refused to do it because of the way ABC treated it originally by abruptly canceling it

2:07 - The big-screen release of Battlestar Galactica was the very first film I ever saw.

The night stalker was excellent. I've got the series on dvd

I love what you do

The Night Stalker was a great show
McGavin was perfect for the role
Has anyone watched Prodject UFO before ?

I don't know if this counts as a "flop" necessarily, but one notable omission (again, if it qualifies) is-- a British-imported kids comedy show called Here Comes The Double Deckers!, which was co-produced by Twentieth Century Fox and Britian's ITV network, and featured a very young Peter Firth and Gillian Bailey among the cast. It featured a lot of corny jokes, musical numbers, and a lot of slapstick. As I recall, it stopped production only after eleven episodes.
As a kid, I remember loving this show, and have somewhat been interested in seeing a possible reworked revival, just to see if a show like that would work now.
I figure Disney, who now owns Twentieth Century Studios (who I think still owns the US rights), would be the most likely to reboot the show, and probably stream it on Disney Plus.
Do you have any info? Thanks.

Great video! These shows deserve far more love than they got.

I remember watching several of these as a kid.

MANHUNTER was produced by Quinn Martin, who also made BANYAN, with Robert Forster as a 1930s private eye.
Is that Donald Pleasance at 0:42 ?

The first season of Space:1999 was great and thought provoking. The second season however, went in a different direction. But I still like it. British sci-fi doesn't catch on in America.

BSG, UFO, Space 1999, and Kolchak were all things I watched.

Well. Surprise, surprise! Space 1999 was a TV 70s flop? I suppose by the standards of the producers that was looking for money it might have been. However, I'm sure I'm not the only person who regularly watched that program, and especially after the character Maya was introduced and there was a romantic connection between her and Tony! To each his own! I loved the show.❤❤❤❤

U.F.O., Battlestar Galactica and Space 1999 I wouldn't call flops and they've grown to become classics.